Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-12-08
OUR GRAPE PRODUCTS.
Interesting Paper Upon the Vine Products
of California

1ornla Museum Association last even
ing at It's regular monthly meeting, an in
teresting paper on 1.-THE Grape and 1t
Products After referring to the earl.
history of California and the small though
given to soil culture by the pioneer men O
the State, and the causes that finally
thirty years ago-led them to give attention
| to agriculture, he said it was not until 1855
and 1860 that any effort was made to &c
grape cuttings of the finer varieties abroad
| and little zeal attention was paid TO th
| grape industry until the close of the lat,
war. 1t was found that we could raist
every variety of grape known to the world
| to perfection. and to-day the grape industry
| Is the second in the State About 1863 WI
| began to realize the great extent OF ou
! valley and foothill capabilities. To- day
the essayist held. it is safe to prophecy tina
within the decade the production of raisins
| wines and brandies from grapes will equal
if not exceed, in value the combined croI
OF our cereals. The same variety of wint
and cognac grapes grown from cuttings i'm
| ported from Europe excel here the product:
| of choice wine districts of France, Germany
! Spain or Portugal. The vintage OF Califor
| MIA in 1886 was nearly %, 000, 900 gallons o.
wine and 100000 gallons of brandy. This
year will exceed these amounts. Every
year thousands of acres are being set out III
vines, and in less than twenty-five years We
will be capable of producing more wine
than France, which in 1886 produced about
2OO,O00,O 900 gallons.
We have done much in twenty years in
perfecting our wires, but there is room toi
much more improvement. We are gaining
by experience and study year by year, and
Cf tot
our wines, which are absolutely pure, are
rapidly gaining a reputation abroad. a
recent visit to Napa county had surprised
the essayist. The valley. thirty-fve miles
by from five to seven miles, is one vast
vineyard, with first-class improvements
He visited one vineyard l 500 feet up steep
mountain side and found l 200 acres set out
on the slopes. He was told it was a heavy
expense to cultivate gather and haul these
grapes to the wineries, but the wine made
from grapes grown at that altitude could
not be excelleG in France. They produced
choice claret and white wines that win
the attention Of consumers here, at
the East and in Europe. We have
exported, incredible as it may seem, during
the past year nearly 2,000, 800 gallons OF
wine to England and the continent. Since
March l, 1887, he had shipped alone SS5
barrels of brandy, produced in Sacramento
county at the Johnston distillery, in bond
to the Collector of the port of New York,
for export to Hamburg, Bremen and Bor-
deaux. The brandy may come back by
and by, doctored favored and mixed
with potato and beet sugar spirit, and be
sold as French cognac of the vintage of
1860, at S. to $40 per gallon. He did not
claim all California wines to be tirst-class
to do so would be unwarranted; but Cali
fornia is fast gaining high reputation for
good wines, thanks to a glorious climate,
fertile soil and the experience of the
wine-makers and distillers, and we
will some day be able to defy the
world to excel US. While in st. Louis,
some eight years ago, by invitation he
visited an extensive wine cellar. Inquiry
developed that not over 1000 acres in
grapes is cultivated in Missouri, and every
few years the vines are killed by the cold
But inadyertence of the proprietor led him
to expose to the visitor store-room where
were hundreds of barrels of sugar cane
crushed sugar" Being cornered, the Gel
larman admitted that Missouri grapes are
so small, devoid of juices, and so starved
in saccharine quality, that it was necessary
to assist fermentation with sugar and in
crease the quantity of the wine. OF course
he could not make true wine out of cane
sugar. In California we can't afford 10
makes spurious wines, for grape Juice is the
cheapest article we have. Our acreage in
vines is vast and to gain an idea of it let
us examine the statistical exhibits, and we
lind that in 1886 we had 10000 acres, and
nearly two-thirds of the area has been
planted since 1873. The value of this prop
erty is nearly $S000,000 and it give employ
ment to nearly $4,000 persons. What will
be the extent of the industry twenty-five
years hence? An estimate on the basis of
present progress gives result that is
simply astounding. We have the vine
Yards of the world in California, that of
Senator Stanford in Tehama county is
nearly 1000 acres AS a curiosity we can
show one vine in Santa Barbara, now sixty
years old, that last year bore five tons of
grapes. Asto the consumption of wine, he
thought the people becoming no more
interpretations of the light, Cry wines
he held to be promotive of tenn
erance and to crowd strong LIQUORS
out, with the result that we will have less
drunkenness, less vice and less crime. A
few years ago the housewife would not
hear of any raisins for domestic use that
were not foreign. The California raisin
they would not have, for they were dry,
tough and difficult to seed. So they were,
but to-day we boast of a splendid Taisin
crop, of finest character. We have this
year product of million boxes. We are
literally driving the imported raisins out OF
the State, and even out of the United States,
and the importation of raisins is almost a
thing of the past. Within eight or nine
years we have become large exporters, for
we have found our long dry season pecu-
liarly adapted 10 curing the fruit of the
vine in the sun, and with our grape culture
advancement and ease Of curing by the
sun and in dryers, we will soon command
the entire raisin trade of America.